The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has approved a policy enabling the agency to provide up to 40 percent of station-area planning costs — not to exceed $200,000 — to local communities along the state’s proposed high-speed rail line.

The CHSRA funding can be used in addition to federal funding earmarked for station-area planning, including $4.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The policy will help ensure that CHSRA and local entities follow central guiding principles so that development in within a half-mile radius of a station serves the local community while also encouraging high-speed rail travel. It will be local governments’ responsibility to focus growth and development guidelines in the area around the station to serve the needs of their communities. The authority oversees the construction and operation of the high-speed rail system.

Transit-oriented development focuses on planning housing and transportation together. How does this benefit older adults? How can we preserve affordable housing near transit? Which communities around the country are doing it right?
AARP Senior Strategic Policy Advisor Rodney Harrell explains in this video, "Preserving Affordability and Access in Livable Communities: Subsidized Housing Opportunities near Transit and the 50+ Population." Visit AARP for more videos on this subject or read the accompanying report co-written by Rodney Harrell, Todd Nedwick of NHT, and Allison Brooks of Reconnecting America here.

A copy of a presentation describing the Bellevue’s Bel-Red Subarea Plan has been added to the Best Practices. The Powerpoint slideshow given to the Puget Sound Regional Council Growth Management Policy Board a year ago outlines the plans for transforming the aging light industrial and commercial area that runs along the Bellevue-Redmond Road that connects downtown Bellevue and Overlake. The Bel-Red Plan seeks to transform this aging light industrial and commercial area into one of the region’s leading models for growth management and transit-oriented development. This corridor is of specific interest because of the use of TDR or Transfer of Development Rights to increase densities along the corridor.

A trio of reports from the past five years detailing various transit financing methods have been added to the Best Practices section.
Value Capture for Transportation FinanceThis 2009 report to the Minnesota Legislature was written by the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies.
"As vehicles become more fuel-efficient and overall levels of travel stagnate in response to increases in fuel prices, conventional sources of revenue for transportation finance such as taxes on motor fuels have been put under increasing pressure. One potential alternative as a source of revenue is a set of policies collectively referred to as value capture policies. In contrast to fuel taxes and other instruments that impose charges on users of transportation networks,…

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The Half-Mile Circles blog is a place to share information about recent research, innovations and other issues related to TOD and livable communities. We also invite experts to talk about their work. Combined with Jeff Wood's The Other Side of the Tracks, the Half-Mile Circles blog is an opportunity for a daily dose of TOD, and allows you to weigh in with your own opinions. Usual blog rules apply; please keep the comment threads civil. To submit an expert article, contact Jeff Wood